His team scrambled to get the car ready and it did a championship-caliber job as Busch posted the second-fastest speed in qualifying Friday for the Irwin Tools Night Race on Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The Furniture Row Racing crew doing that good of a job might be another incentive that could encourage Busch to stay while he’s being wooed by Stewart-Haas Racing for 2014.

“The guys know that this is the time now,” Busch said. “They are all shaking my hand saying, ‘Thanks’ and they’re also saying, ‘Let’s do this again next year.’

“I’m like, ‘Heck, yeah, I’m right there with you.’ We have to stay focused on the present as well as balance the future. It’s a tough thing to do. You hope you could do it behind the scenes where it’s not all out in the public.”

Busch posted a speed of 128.770 mph, just shy of the pole-winning speed of Hamlin’s 128.969 mph.

For Hamlin, it was his third pole since he missed four races with a back injury following a crash at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway. For Hamlin, who is 25th in the standings, earned his first pole at Bristol, a high-banked 0.533-mile concrete oval.

“It was a nerve-wracking type of lap where you know you’ve got to drive it to a certain speed and hope that you’ve got a cushion there to kind of lean on,” said Hamlin, the defending winner of the annual Bristol night race.

“We obviously hit it just right and was able to get the pole.”

While Hamlin is trying to rescue his season, Busch’s turmoil is more a result of his success this year.

Sitting ninth in the standings with a Furniture Row team trying to make the Chase for the first time in its history, Busch said he could return to Furniture Row next season but obviously other offers are out there. SHR Competition Director Greg Zipadelli said his organization is working toward trying to start a fourth team for Busch but no deal is done.

Busch has spent the last two years trying to resurrect a career that left him without a ride with a top team after a series of emotional outbursts.

“It’s nice when the phone is ringing and that people are asking what my future plans are and people want me to be part of the program with them,” Busch said. “It’s been a journey to say the least since things turned at the end of 2011.

“It’s nice to have the ability to find good rides and be in one. To build with these guys into the future is a possibility. To have the outside guys knocking on the door going, ‘Hey, we want you to drive’ is a good confidence booster to say the least.”

Busch had to be proud of his crew’s work Friday.

“The whole right side was pancaked and we were right on that edge of do you fix it or do you pull out the backup?” he said. “It was so cool to feel the energy from my guys. They all rolled their sleeves up and they all looked at the clock and said, ‘We have an hour-and-a-half to fix this.’”